Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/743

 WOOL (MANUFACTURES OF) 719 fected by means of several spindles set nearly upright in a frame, and receiving a turning motion, at the same time that the frame it- self is made to recede (upon friction wheels running in rails beneath it) from a roller fa- cing the spindles, and from which roller a card- ing is fed by the machinery to each spindle at the rate required ; the spindles alternately draw out and wind the lengths of thread pro- duced by movement of the carriage, the en- tire action being quite similar to that of Har- greaves's spinning jenny. (See COTTON MAN- UFAOTUBE.) Besides the workman managing the machine, another, or a child, is employed to put fresh cardings in place as they may be required. The proper spinning consists in bringing the soft yarn thus furnished to the fineness and firmness requisite for weaving; and the machinery and operation are again quite similar to those employed in spinning cotton. In view, however, of the variable lengths of the filaments of wool, the two pairs of drawing rollers between which it passes in spinning are so mounted as to be adjustable at different distances, so as neither to allow the soft thread to part between them from its undue length, nor to be broken when too short because of want of space for the fibres to slip one upon the other ; while the greater elas- ticity of wool also allows the velocities of the two pairs of rollers to be so regulated as to produce a greater extension of the thread than in the case of cotton. After the preparation for and the process of weaving follows that of scouring the cloth, in order to remove the oil, sizing, dust, &c., introduced into it pur- posely or accidentally in the mean time ; this is accomplished by beating the cloth with wooden mallets moved by machinery, while it lies in a sort of inclined trough, soap and water being first allowed to flow upon it, and afterward clear water. Piece dyeing^nd wash- ing may then follow ; otherwise, the cloth is next removed to the drying room, or stretched in the open air by means of hooks upon rails or tenter bars, and allowed to dry. Being removed when dry to a suitable room, the operation of burling follows, the burlers pick- ing out of it irregular threads, hairs, and dirt; and the process of fulling then succeeds. (See FULLING.) After the cloth has been fulled one or more times, as may be required, it is again subjected to scouring, fullers' earth being now usually added to the water; and after rinsing, the cloth is again stretched upon the tenters and dried. The cloth in the fulled state has both its surfaces woolly or rough ; and that sur- face which forms the proper face of the cloth, or either one of them if they do not differ, is then subjected to the operations of teasling and shearing. The object of the former process is to raise a sufficient number of fibres upon the surface, and of the latter to cut these to the proper length to form the pile or nap of the finished cloth. To the old plan of fixing _the teasels in a hand frame worked over the piece 842 VOL. xvi. 46 by two men, succeeded some years since that of the gig mill, in which the teasels are set in the periphery of a cylinder; and in the most improved form of this, the teasels are arranged along longitudinal bars in the surface of the large cylinder, with interspaces between the bars, the whole having the appearance of an immense reel. The cylinder revolves rapidly while the cloth, passing slowly from one roller to another, is brought against one side of it, and receives the action of the teasels. Owing to the readiness with which the points of the burs become soft when wet, and their compar- ative scarcity and high price, gig mills with what are called metallic teasels, or cards with fine metallic teeth, have been constructed ; but though some of these perform satisfactorily, the natural teasels are still preferred. Of these 3,000 are not unfrequently consumed in dress- ing a single piece of cloth. The shearing of the nap thus raised to a proper and uniform length was, until the beginning of this century, performed by stretching the cloth over a stuffed table, and carefully clipping it with long hand shears ; in the first mechanism the only change was in working similar shears by the machine- ry ; but at present several more ingenious modes have been devised. Among the best of these is that invented by Mr. George Oldland of Gloucestershire in 1832. In this, the cloth, be- ing made to move slowly along in a horizontal sheet, is passed directly beneath and in contact with a semicircular cutting edge or " ledger blade," extending across the width of the piece, while directly within this semicircle there is continually turned by a band from the machine- ry a revolving wheel fitting the curve of the for- mer, and at once carrying and by suitable ar- rangements of teeth causing to revolve eight small circular cutters about its periphery ; as these are thus made successively to play along the ledger blade, they form a sort of endless shears in the highest degree delicate and true. Superfine cloths are dressed and sheared several times in succession, being also once pressed be- fore the last shearing. In the intervals of the preceding operations, or after their completion, the best cloths are now boiled, or " roll-boiled," being wound tightly round a cylinder and im- mersed for two or three hours in scalding water. The results of this process, patented by Messrs. Daniell and Wilkins of Tiverton in 1824, and improved by Mr. "William Hirst of Leeds, are to, prevent spotting of the cloth when used, and to impart to it a lustre which was unat- tainable by any previous process. Other methods, as that of steaming the cloth while stretched or under pressure, though shorter, are said to be less advantageous. Brushing the cloth, which in any case next follows, is ef- fected by passing the piece, while steamed, in contact with revolving cylinders studded with suitable brushes. Picking is then performed, close any minute breaks in the fabric ; and the usual trade marks, denoting quality, number,
 * o remove blemishes; and fine-drawing, to